


A Good Queen

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-23
Updated: 2007-12-23
Packaged: 2018-01-25 02:10:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1626038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucy and Mr Tumnus look east.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Good Queen

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sternel

 

 

She's still finding it difficult to get used to the way the sun sets in Narnia.

Being queen is all just fine- she's never had so many beautiful clothes, and so much wonderful food to eat, and while she still can't dance for toffee it only makes things funnier when she trips over Edmund's feet or somehow manages to get herself tangled up in Peter's cloak. They still creep into one anothers' rooms at night to talk and tell stories, and though her four-poster bed is far too big for one little girl it's not enough to make her feel homesick.

But what catch her out are the little things, quiet moments when she's not quite prepared to look up and see a different sky. She wakes suddenly in the night, dreaming of sirens and the city streets, to hear only the sound of the sea, and mermaid song in the distance. Sometimes she still wishes for her old nightie with the patched hem, and her blanket smelling of cloves and warm bread from drying by the stove.

One morning they're out in the grounds, Peter and Susan talking earnestly to the Chief Mole about his plans for an orchard, and she wanders away from the others, along path that winds around the castle to a little willow glade. Halfway there is a low, mossy rock with a lovely view of the sea, where it's always nice to sit when the sun is out.

Rounding a corner, Lucy realises that she's not the only one fond of the spot. Mr Tumnus is perched on the rock, gazing wistfully out at the Eastern Ocean, which glitters like a great golden jewel in the rays of the morning sun. He holds his pipe delicately in his hands, but without any apparent intention to play it.

She sits down beside him as quietly as she can. "It is a lovely view."

"It is rather." Mr Tumnus was one of the few of their friends who had paid any attention when she'd asked them not to call her `your majesty' and all that silliness, which she was very happy about. It would have been like hearing it from Father, or Peter.

"I think I should like to sail on it someday," she muses. "To get to the edge, and see what's there."

"They say you would find Aslan's Country," Mr Tumnus replies, running his fingers over his pipe. "That's what my father told me: beyond the farthest sea, in the utter east, where salt water turns sweet, there Aslan sits in splendour, and all is peace." There was a long silence before he continued. "I hope he is there now."

"Aslan?"

"My father. He deserved peace, after... after everything."

Lucy isn't quite sure what to say, but she sees that Mr Tumnus' left hand has slipped from his pipe, and she takes it gently. After a moment he squeezes back, and looks down to smile at her.

"You are a very good friend, Lucy Pevensie of Spare Oom."

She sighs. "I'm not a very good Queen though. Queens don't get bad dreams, or wish they were in little houses in London instead of their royal palaces."

"And I suppose grown-up fauns shouldn't wish their fathers were still around to take care of them." Mr Tumnus' smile has turned wry. "It doesn't make you a bad Queen to be a little homesick, Lucy."

"None of the others are though," she says, gesturing back towards where Peter, Susan and Edmund stood conversing with the moles. "They've settled in, they love Narnia. I thought I did too."

Mr Tumnus laughs softly. "Oh I shouldn't think for a moment that even High King Peter doesn't sometimes wake up in the morning and wish himself at home. Loving Narnia doesn't mean you can't love other places too, and wish to be there too."

"I just feel like I'm being split in two," Lucy says, looking out at the ocean again. "And I should be one, and whole, and loving Narnia because it's where I am and where Aslan wants me."

"I don't think any of us are ever one and whole, my friend- not on this side of the Eastern Sea. There are always parts of us that don't quite fit." Mr Tumnus looks down at his pipe again, and a shadow creeps across his face.

Lucy clutches his hand more tightly. "That was the witch, Mr Tumnus, not you! She made a lot of people do bad things, terrible things."

"And many people said no," he murmurs. "The Beavers sheltered you, and risked their lives."

"And you got turned to stone!"

"It doesn't mean I didn't try to betray you, your Majesty." His face is very sad as he looks into her eyes. "I may be a good faun, but I am a bad faun as well."

Lucy looks away from him, and out to sea again, watching a seagull rise up from the shore towards the climbing sun. It passes across, and just for a moment the rays fan out like a great, golden mane, shining in the sky. She feels suddenly warm inside.

"And you are my friend," she says. "If I can be Queen and not always love Narnia, then you can be my friend even if you think you are a bad faun. Which you aren't," she adds, for emphasis.

It seems as if the sun touches Mr Tumnus' face again, and he looks back up at her with the beginnings of a smile. "I dare say, Lucy, that you are a very good Queen indeed." 

 


End file.
